Post navigation

Lets go to Ireland!

Without a doubt you take a trip to Ireland Fly fishing and everyone automatically thinks that you are visiting the outstanding waters of Lough Corrib. But there are other locations in Ireland where you can go and experience some incredible Fishing…and not just in fresh water!

For most of his Fly Fishing life my father has been visiting the beautiful scenery of Lough Corrib and has loved every trip. But with me getting older we started looking for other options of fishing trips. Obviously not looking for anything pricey, as this would be my first fishing holiday. But also in the year or so before we had started to take an interest in Saltwater Fly Fishing with varied success, fishing our local estuaries for bass and mullet. After a few trips it was fair to say that we were severely bit by the saltwater bug!

We decided to look around for a Saltwater fly fishing holiday, we were surprised at how little there was offered in this field. But after a while searching the Internet we finally found our destination. We stumbled across a local Irish guide who ran a guiding service around the South coast of Ireland.

By looking on his website http://www.thatchcottageireland.co.uk/ we were captured by the fish and the scenery that was being offered. And with no hesitation we decided to book with John Quinlan. We had the package of 6 days guiding and B&B, you stay in his beautiful family home with his wife and sons. You get treated like an absolute king when you are there, the accommodation is incredible, sea fishing tackle is provided and the guiding is brilliant!

We enjoyed John’s operation to such extent as we visited him every year for a week for 4years after, enjoying every trip. We experienced some incredible fishing on our trips with John with bass coming to the fly of up to 5lbs, Pollock of up to 6lbs and mullet of up to 5lbs. There was incredible sport to be had on the fly and not just in the saltwater with John. There is also the option of taking a wander up the beautiful hill’s and try you’re hand at some wild brown trout fishing, or even popping over to the local river Inny for a spot of some of the best salmon fishing available.

But without a doubt the star attraction is the bass fishing. Its just the sheer excitement you get from fishing in the pitch black dead of night, waves braking on you’re chest and you fishing away not knowing when that express train like hit from the predatory bass is going to come.

There are a few patterns that I have come to learn, that are very successful for catching bass. The predatory instincts of the bass will make it hit anything that crosses its path. But also she can be very picky as to what they take. One of my favourite patterns for bass is just the standard Clouser pattern shown bellow.

And as modelled wonderfully by myself in my younger days, this is what you get from you’re first few cast in Ireland with John.

The quality of fishing you get and the experience with John it makes it a trip to remember, and every trip I can remember what, where and how we caught the fish purely because it is such an enjoyable and different experience. And throughout my 4 years of fishing with John I have truly had a lifetime experience. So much that I plan to visit again with my father this year! And have already made plans to go.

If you were looking for something different and some good fishing and better company then I would strongly recommend you visit John Quinlan at the Thatch Cottage it is truly a wonderful place to go and fish, I know I am extremely excited for my next trip there!